June 11, 1966: Ernie Banks gets advice from Stan Musial, becomes oldest player to hit three triples in game

Father Time remains undefeated, but for one day in June 1966 at Houston’s Astrodome, 35-year-old Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs turned back the clock to a decade earlier, when he was in the top 10 in triples in the National League.1

The Houston Astros (30-25) had won the opening game of the three-game series the night before on a walk-off in the 10th inning. They were in fifth place in the National League but only 3½ games behind the front-running Los Angeles Dodgers. Chicago, which had finished ahead of the NL’s two expansion clubs, Houston and the New York Mets, in 1964 and 1965, was now last in the 10-team NL. At 16-36, the Cubs were 16 games back of the Dodgers. They had lost their previous five games in the two-season-old Astrodome—it had been almost a year since their last victory at the ballpark, on June 17, 1965.

Banks, in his 14th major-league season in 1966, had grown up in Dallas, Texas. The NL’s 1962 addition of the Astros had given him the opportunity to play in his home state. With his father and one of his brothers in attendance,2 the Cubs first baseman entered the game with an uncharacteristically low .220 batting average and just eight extra-base hits – including one triple – in 43 games.

Bob Bruce (1-2, 5.06 ERA) took the mound for the Astros. He was nearing the end of his nine-season career—which included throwing the first pitch in the Astrodome.3 Opposing him was Chicago’s Bill Hands (4-4, 3.06 ERA), who was just embarking on his 11-year career. Hands had appeared in only four games in 1965 so he was still considered a rookie.

The pitchers traded zeros for the first two innings, but Bruce ran into trouble in the top of the third. Singles by rookie catcher Randy Hundley and Don Kessinger put runners on first and third for Hands (hitting .059), who scored Hundley on a groundout.4 Adolfo Phillips – who had joined the Cubs in an April 1966 trade that also brought young pitcher Ferguson Jenkins from the Philadelphia Phillies – followed by striking out in a major-league record ninth consecutive at-bat,5 but Glenn Beckert’s triple scored Kessinger for a 2-0 Cubs lead.

After another scoreless inning from Hands, Bruce allowed three consecutive hits in the fourth: Ron Santo singled, Banks tripled into the right-field corner, and Byron Browne’s 400-foot homer increased the Cubs’ lead to 5-0.6 That also knocked Bruce out of the game. He was replaced by Gary Kroll, who got the Astros out of the inning without further damage. Phillips flied out to end the inning, ending his strikeout streak.

Hands continued to hold the Astros scoreless in the fourth, although Jim Gentile reached on an error.

The Cubs picked up in the fifth where they had left off in the fourth. They put runners on second and third with a single, a wild pitch, a walk, and a double steal. Beckert scored on a passed ball and Banks’ second triple scored Santo: 7-0, Cubs.

Neither team scored in the next two frames, although Kroll did walk Hands.

The Astros threatened in the bottom of the sixth but did not score. Joe Morgan singled to open the frame—and then it looked as if someone had greased the baseball. Sonny Jackson’s grounder forced Morgan, but Jackson made it to second on an error by shortstop Kessinger and took third on a passed ball. Jim Wynn walked and took second on a wild pitch.7 But Hands recovered to strike out Gentile and induced a groundout from Rusty Staub to preserve the shutout.

Kroll worked a one-two-three top of the seventh including a fly out from Banks. Kroll’s four-inning relief appearance matched his longest relief stint in 1966.8

The Astros got on the board in the seventh when catcher John Bateman hit a one-out homer. Bob Aspromonte doubled and scored on pinch-hitter Bill Heath’s single for Houston’s second and final run. Hands then walked Morgan, which ended his outing. Reliever Billy Hoeft, another pitcher nearing the end of his career,9 quashed the threat with a strikeout and a fly out.

Aurelio Monteagudo, acquired by Houston from the Kansas City A’s three weeks earlier, took the mound for the top of the eighth. He allowed a single to Browne. Hundley reached on catcher’s interference—Bateman was ejected for arguing about the call,10 the fourth of his five ejections in 1966.11 The runners moved up on Kessinger’s sacrifice but were left there when Hoeft grounded out and Phillips flied out again.

Hoeft continued his effective relief appearance with a clean bottom of the eighth.

Santo singled with two outs in the ninth, bringing up Banks. His third triple scored Santo and made his mark in the history books as the oldest player in the National, American, or Federal League to hit three triples in a game.12 All three triples were hit off three different pitchers, and Santo scored on each of them. Browne’s flyout ended the frame.

The Astros went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. After Aspromonte worked a one-out walk,13 pinch-hitter Dave Nicholson grounded out and Joe Morgan flied out to end the game. The 29,877 fans witnessing the first Astros home loss to the Cubs in 1966 could console themselves with having witnessed history.

How unusual was this feat for Banks? In his NL MVP years of 1958 and 1959 he hit 11 and 6 triples respectively. Much earlier in his career he’d had three two-triple games14 and he would have one later in 1966, on August 2. He joined a select group—a NL/AL/FL player hit three triples in a game only 48 times from 1901 to 2022.15

As for hitting in general, Banks gave credit for his revival at the plate to a conversation with St. Louis Cardinals’ retired great Stan Musial when the Cubs were in St. Louis on May 24-26.16 Musial told him, “Don’t try to pull that outside ball any more. Go to right field with it. Keep going to right field all year, if necessary.” Banks said, “You know, that really helped me. All three of those triples I hit last Saturday in Houston were to right field. Stan is absolutely right in urging veterans to adjust their hitting. But I realize why it’s hard to come around to it. The veteran is usually too proud to do it.”17

The Astros never drew closer to the Dodgers than 3½ games, and gradually faded from fourth place to eighth, finishing 23 games back. The Cubs, who had been in 10th place since April, finished 36 games back. Banks went on to hit .272 in 1966; his 45 extra-base hits included seven triples, his most since 1960.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mark Richard and copy-edited by Len Levin.

The author thanks John Fredland for access to the Houston newspaper archives.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU196606110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B06110HOU1966.htm

Notes

1 He was fifth in 1955 with 9; eighth in 1956 with 8; and second in 1958 with 11.

2 John Wilson, “Cubs Clobber Astros, 8-2,” Houston Chronicle, June 12, 1966: 77.

3 David E. Skelton, Bob Bruce biography, SABR BioProject, accessed August 24, 2023, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bob-bruce/.

4 Two months later, on August 11, Hundley hit for the cycle against the Astros at Wrigley Field. He finished fourth in the NL’s Rookie of the Year voting; Tommy Helms of the Cincinnati Reds won the award, and Houston’s Sonny Jackson was second.

5 Richard Dozer, “Banks Hits 3 Triples in 8-2 Victory,” Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1966: 2, 1. The consecutive-strikeout record has since been tied by several players, but never exceeded. “Strikeout Records for Hitters,” Baseball-Almanac.com, accessed August 24, 2023, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_strike1.shtml.

6 Dozer.

7 The author was unable to find any indication whether Cubs manager Leo Durocher considered any of these errors “rockhead plays” worthy of a fine. Edgar Munzel, “Lion’s Warning: Heavy Fines for Rockhead Plays,“ The Sporting News, June 18, 1966: 17.

8 Kroll pitched in only two more games in 1966 (both games of the doubleheader on June 19). He was sent back to the minors when pitcher Barry Latman came off the disabled list. He didn’t make it back to the majors until 1969, when he pitched in 19 games for Cleveland to wrap up his major-league career.

9 Hoeft was released by the Cubs on August 2. He was picked up by the San Francisco Giants, but appeared in only four games for them, winding up his 15-year career.

10 Wilson, “Cubs Clobber Astros, 8-2.” The Chronicle gives the ejection for arguing about the catcher’s interference call, but Retrosheet shows it as “arguing balls and strikes.”

11 In Bateman’s major-league career, which was from 1963 to 1972, he had seven ejections—five of which were in 1966.

12 Banks’ record still stood as of the start of the 2023 season. Stathead.com, https://stathead.com/tiny/yVZg8. Retrieved August 4, 2023. The previous player to hit three triples in a game was Willie Mays on September 15, 1960, but that was in an 11-inning game between Mays’ San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies. The previous player to hit three triples in a nine-inning game was Roberto Clemente for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Reds on September 8, 1958.

13 Later in the season, Aspromonte hit two grand slams against Chicago, including a walk-off ninth-inning shot against Cal Koonce when the Cubs returned to the Astrodome on August 26.

14 August 28, 1955, June 6, 1959, and September 28, 1960.

15 Bill Joyce is the only player to hit four triples in one major-league game, with the New York Giants in 1897. “MLB Triples Records,” Baseball-Almanac.com, accessed August 24, 2023, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_trip1.shtml.

16 On May 26 his batting average was .177. Since that date, including this game, he was hitting .322, raising his overall average to.232.

17 Edgar Munzel, “Musial’s Advice Restores Zip to Vet Banks’ Bat,” The Sporting News, June 25, 1966: 22.